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GOP abortion bans struck down by Appellate Courts

May 29, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

On Wednesday, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the state of Arkansas’ 12-week abortion ban, the most restrictive in the nation. US appeals court rejects Arkansas’ 12-week abortion ban based on fetal heartbeat:

A federal appeals court struck down one of the nation’s toughest abortion restrictions on Wednesday, ruling that women would be unconstitutionally burdened by an Arkansas law that bans abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy if a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with doctors who challenged the law, ruling that abortion restrictions must be based on a fetus’ ability to live outside the womb, not the presence of a fetal heartbeat that can be detected weeks earlier. The court said that standard was established by previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

The ruling upholds a decision of a federal judge in Arkansas who struck down the 2013 law before it could take effect, shortly after legislators approved the change. But the federal judge left in place other parts of the law that required doctors to tell women if a fetal heartbeat was present; the appeals court also kept those elements in place.

House passes 20-week abortion ban on party-line vote

May 13, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

Earlier this year the GOP’s number one priority, a 20-week abortion bill, had to be pulled from the calendar after GOP women objected to certain language in the bill regarding rape and incest.

The revised bill is hardly any improvement from the original bill. Nevertheless, the Abortion Bill Passed the House today:

After months of delays, House Republicans passed a bill Wednesday that would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy — except in cases of rape, incest or threat to the mother’s life.

The bill, which passed 242-184 in a along mostly party lines, was pulled in late January after a number of Republican women protested a rape-reporting requirement, calling it insensitive to rape survivors who did not immediately report a sexual assault. Originally, the bill required that a rape be reported to law enforcement officials for women to be exempt from the 20-week limit. That provision was removed but, as a compromise, the bill now requires rape victims to receive counseling and face a 48-hour waiting period before getting an abortion after 20 weeks.

Thus victimizing a rape victim a second time by the state.

Loretta Lynch to get confirmation vote

April 21, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

After engaging in a record delay of a confirmation vote on the nomination of Loretta Lynch for Attorney General, Loretta Lynch Confirmation Vote Deadlock a US Postwar First, I am sure the Beltway media villagers will now spin yet another fable about how bipartisan cooperation is breaking out in the Capitol, Bipartisanship breaks out on Capitol Hill _ at least for now, with news that the Senate has reached deal to vote on AG nominee Loretta Lynch:

Senate leaders on Tuesday morning announced a deal on a long-stalled anti-human-trafficking bill, setting up a vote to confirm Loretta Lynch as attorney general as soon as tomorrow.

“I’m glad we can say there is a bipartisan proposal that will allow us to complete action on this legislation so we can provide help to the victims who desperately need it,” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced on the Senate floor.

“As soon as we finish the trafficking bill, as I’ve indicated for some time now, we’ll move to the president’s nominee for attorney general in the next day or so,” he added.

Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said he expected final passage of the anti-trafficking bill “by tomorrow.”

Three ballot measures to preempt Cathi Herrod and CAP

March 31, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

Earlier this year the political pundits were all patting themselves on the back because the Tea-Publican Arizona legislature had not reintroduced the so-called “religious liberty” (license to discriminate) bill, SB 1062, that Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed last year after a firestorm of bad national publicity for Arizona. I warned you at the time not to read too much into this, Cathi Herrod is just biding her time.

I am right, of course. In the Arizona Republic today, Indiana uproar echoes SB 1062 furor in Ariz.:

Arizona’s SB 1062 sought to amend the state’s RFRA to provide a legal defense for individuals and businesses facing discrimination lawsuits if they proved they acted upon a “sincerely held religious belief.”

Cathi Herrod, president of the socially conservative Center for Arizona Policy, was the driving force behind SB 1062. On Friday, the center issued a statement praising Pence and Indiana.

In an interview Monday with The Arizona Republic, Herrod noted that Indiana’s new law also was informed by the Supreme Court’s decision last year in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby Stores, which clarified RFRA can apply to closely held businesses. That case involved an objection to federally mandated birth-control coverage.

Indiana’s law is “not word for word, but it’s very similar to the Arizona law that we have as well as incorporating some of the changes that we were trying to make” [with SB 1062], Herrod said.

Cathi’s Clown signs ‘junk science’ abortion bill – cue the lawyers

March 31, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

Arizona’s unelected “31st Senator,” high-priced lobbyist and campaign adviser to Dicey Doug Ducey, Cathi Herrod, got her quid pro quo yesterday — Il Duce signed the unconstitutional “junk science” abortion bill from the Christian Taliban Center for Arizona Policy (CAP). Cathi Herrod posted a “special access” photo of Dicey Doug Ducey signing her bill.

This is Cathi Herrod’s less than subtle way of signaling to everyone that “I own this governor.” Ducey is Cathi’s Clown. And that “protecting taxpayers” part is pure bullshit — taxpayers will be subsidizing the defense of this unconstitutional law in court on behalf of Cathi Herrod and the CAP (they will be out of pocket nothing).

When do Arizona taxpayers get to enact into law their objection to subsidizing Cathi Herrod and the CAP’s unconstitutional bills? If the Tea-Publican lapdogs of the Christian Taliban in the Arizona legislature are going to roll over and enact these CAP bills, shouldn’t there be a provision in the bill that says “Cathi Herrod and the CAP shall personally bear all litigation expenses and attorneys fees in defense of this bill in court,” and that “no state funds shall be expended in defense of this bill”? It seems only fair and just.